There are three distinguished in fierceness: Israel among the nations, the dog among animals, and the cock among birds. —Rabbi Simeon, Tractate Bezah 25b, Babylonian Talmud (Quincentenary ed.), Soncino Pr.

Where is it possible to find a group of Jews who are committed to Israel, and whose children are likely to honor that commitment? The answer is, in a synagogue on the Sabbath. —Elliott Abrams, "Can Jews Survive?"

It is a fact that the Jewish religion is above all Jewish nationalism ... One must be a Jew first and a human being second. —Moses Hess, Rome and Jerusalem, as quoted in The Decadence of Judaism in Our Time by Moshe Menuhin.

Why, then, does truth generate hatred ... unless it be that truth is loved in such a way that those who love something else besides her wish that to be the truth which they do love. ... Therefore, they hate the truth for the sake of whatever it is that they love in place of the truth. —Augustine of Hippo, Confessions (Bk. X, Ch. XXIII, 34)

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

On March 6, 2008, 26-year-old Alaa Abu Dhein carried out an armed attack on the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva. That same day, the Jerusalem Post accurately characterized this attack on "the flagship institution of the religious Zionist movement" as an "assault on the heart of Zionism."

Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliahu called on the state to use brute force as a deterrent to future terror attacks, following the shooting at the capital's Mercaz Harav Yeshiva three weeks ago that killed eight students.

"A state that really respects the lives of its citizens would have hanged the 10 sons of the terrorist on a tree 50 amot [25 meters] tall, so that others would see it and be afraid," wrote Eliahu, referring figuratively to the Book of Esther's depiction of how the Jews of ancient Persia took revenge against Haman and his 10 sons.

PM: This "revenge" is celebrated in the Purim holiday and, according to the book of Esther, Jews killed more than 75,000 Persians.

Eliahu's comments will appear this weekend in a Hebrew-language pamphlet called "Eretz Yisrael Shelanu" [The Land of Israel Belongs to Us] that is distributed in thousands of synagogues across the nation.

"I am not talking about individuals," stipulated Eliahu. "I am talking about the State of Israel, which needs to make them hurt until they scream, 'Enough!' - until they lie sprawled on the ground groveling, 'Help us!'...

"We have to exact a revenge that is so painful, it will burn into their souls the message of all our enemies that Jewish blood is more valuable than gold and platinum."

Eliahu stressed that the aim of the revenge was solely to achieve deterrence. He added that the Torah's prohibitions against revenge referred solely to individuals, not to states.

"On the national level, "revenge is necessary. Every state that is attacked takes revenge. The US, Russia, Turkey and India, all European states and even Third World countries take revenge. Does the entire world have it wrong and only the Israeli Left have it right? The Israeli Left is tired. It has lost its will to live. We have to remove those tired leftists from political leadership and send them to the old age home, and choose leaders who know true morality," Eliahu continued.